Background Art
Numerous sunroof assemblies have been developed that employ a weatherstrip holder to retain a resilient weatherstrip to the perimeter of a sunroof panel. The devices shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B are illustrative of the known arrangements in that they include a weatherstrip holder 2 which is bonded to the sunroof panel 4. The weatherstrip holder 2 typically includes a lip 6 which is spaced apart from the sunroof panel 4 and which terminates at a barb 8. The lip 6 and the barb 8 are configured to securely engage an attachment groove 10 formed in a weatherstrip 12 to thereby permit the weatherstrip 12 to be fixedly coupled to the sunroof panel 4.
While such arrangements permit the generation of an effective seal around the perimeter of the sunroof panel, several drawbacks have been noted with these arrangements. One of the significant drawbacks concerns the cost of these arrangements. The tooling and labor associated with the fabricating and bonding of the weatherstrip holder to the sunroof panel often represents a significant portion of the overall cost of a sunroof assembly.
Another drawback concerns the fact that the use of a separate weatherstrip holder creates an additional joint (i.e., the joint between the weatherstrip holder and the sunroof panel) which, if the bond between the sunroof panel and the weatherstrip holder fails, presents a path through which water and noise could infiltrate the vehicle passenger compartment. While failures of the bond between the weatherstrip holder and the sunroof panel are relatively rare, they are extremely difficult to detect due to the fact that the integrity of such joints is usually established through a destructive test wherein the bonded weatherstrip holder is physically removed from the sunroof panel.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a sunroof assembly having a sunroof panel structure with an integrally formed weatherstrip mounting flange which permits the overall cost of the sunroof assembly to be reduced and which improves the integrity of the seal between the sunroof panel structure and a vehicle body.